


The Correlation Between Friendship and Discomfort

by Logician



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-01-02
Updated: 2015-01-03
Packaged: 2018-03-04 20:54:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,988
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3089186
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Logician/pseuds/Logician
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nico and Reyna had difficulty fitting in with their friends, but that didn't stop them from enjoying themselves.</p>
<p>Human High School AU</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

The autumn evening dragged on as if the earth was being pulled by the student driver Nico's father could only wish he was. The pair of hunched-over, hostile-looking, and frankly pissed off teenagers sat on the floor feeling unwelcome. Withholding contact seemed most appropriate to both of them. There was no way starting conversation could take the ease off waiting for their other “friends” to arrive. After all, Jason said he'd be home at 7 to resume the movie night. It was a pity the clock was telling them it was 8:30. Another great pity was the fact that, despite the inviting of six other individuals to watch seven hours of high fantasy, struggles to overcome evil, and that “hot brunette guy who did that thing with the singing” attempt to save the world, Nico and Reyna were the only two sitting awkwardly in the Grace family lounge having to listen to Beryl Grace assuring them that her son would be home soon every fifteen minutes before disappearing into the kitchen.

At 8:37, Nico gave up on stealing his toes from his feet. Forfeiting the challenge he lay down on the cloud-like carpet, his head hitting it with a jolt.

“Ow,” he muttered before lifting his head up slightly to slide his hands underneath.

Reyna turned to look at the boy whose lying down clearly only managed to double his discomfort. Despite having been in the same group of friends for several years, she barely knew Nico and deemed herself in no way capable of making the situation better. Her mouth which recently obtained a mouth of its own evidently disagreed.

“You know, they don't really give a shit about us, don't you?” she said half laughing off the reality the reality of her pained words.

Sitting up again, Nico removed his phone from his pocket and texted his sister Hazel a “where the hell are you?”. Without taking his eyes off the phone, he considered Reyna's question. He'd always felt left out of things, as if he was part of the group due some strange habit that was developed by Bianca in early adolescence to become something of an obligation to his friends. His younger sister was doing better in the group than him. Nico was simply too strange to be welcomed by anyone. Nevertheless, the group let Nico stay. Maybe they thought they owed it to Bianca is some strange way, or maybe they took pity on him. Whatever it was, he felt a great deal of gratitude. He could deal with being alone and fend for himself well enough, but there was little else he could do to convince his parents that he somewhat content with his life. He had people to spend time and develop somewhat meaningful relationships with. He'd gotten to know everyone pretty well despite the clear lack of sentiment.

Reyna on the other hand was well-loved by everyone. More importantly, they respected her. If there was something that needed to be done, any sort of feud, Reyna could settle it. She was practical, impartial, and at times stubborn. Yet, she was also understanding and open-minded. What Nico could not see was the effect her rationale and impartial manner had on her relationships with others.

“Yeah,” was all Nico could manage as he hit send on his phone, not bothering to argue, “I guess that's just them. I'm just glad my parents think I have something better to do than disrupt the internet on Saturday nights.”

Reyna nodded and resumed contemplating life. It was another three minutes before Nico's phone buzzed and he announced that the six people crammed in Jason's car were sorry and would be there at nine. She looked over at Nico as if to reinforce their friends' lack of care for them before Mrs. Grace's. They sat in silence, neither acknowledging that they had been left out of a shopping trip which ran two hours over time.

Exactly fifteen minutes later, the gang arrived. Jason held various drinks with interesting packaging colour choices above his head. Following him was a line of people carrying several bags of chips, popcorn and practically just sugar as well as various soft things to aid in the mission of making the floor more comfortable (because no one cared sit on the couches in an act of superiority). The nine of them made quick work of setting up and before they knew it and without acknowledgement of the time Nico and Reyna had been waiting, the gang was commenting on some subpar makeup, deviation from the source material and ill-fitting dialogue.

To describe the night as a good time would be an understatement to everyone's account. Everyone rejoiced when twenty minutes in, Leo managed to get his speakers working to achieve the whole surround sound experience. Nico couldn't help but laugh and Percy's running commentary and agree with everything he said before Annabeth shut him up with a smack on the head with a pillow each time. He out witted Percy and Jason when they somehow ended up in a pun battle, which landed him two cushions to the head. After each movie, Frank and Reyna nailed the impressions and half-assed scene and reaction reenactments, Frank more so than Reyna.

Nico and Reyna knew they weren't quite one of them, but being part of something felt just as great as coming of age films ultimately portrayed it. It was times like these with the light punches, bellyaching laughter in the most tense moments (as well as collective tears and nail-biting on other most tense moments) that did make them belong. Those moments were good enough for now. In the third movie, they glanced at each other. The eye contact was brief, but they noted the smile on the other's face.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nico and Reyna's morning after is very ordinary, but not too ordinary (or so the writer hopes).

A late night movie marathon could not cause Reyna to deviate far from her sleep schedule. Being such a systematic person, she was up at 8am. Careful not to disturb the semicircle of over-eager movie watchers around her, she propped herself up on an elbow. There was a dull ache down her side and she flinched when she moved her head a little too quickly. Blinking quickly, she adjusted to the sim lighting of the room. The sun threatened to ram down the curtains and all she couldn't help but be frustrated by her sleeping in.

She reached for her phone lying on the ground an arms length away slowly for the benefit of her friends and herself. Tapping it across the impractically coloured carpet which miraculously made it through the night unstained, it ended up in front of her face. She unlocked it flinched again at the light. Quickly adjusting the brightness and turning down the volume, she moved on to checking for any messages. Various photos and short videos from the previous night seemed to be circulating, including her own impression of a dwarf. Seeing herself crouched down, hobbling and holding her plait to her chin while putting on an ambiguous European accent was pleasant and she could only hope it would never resurface.

Reyna was halfway through images of Jason captioned with stupid puns when she heard a quiet “ah, fuck,” from beside her. There lay a fleece blanket-covered mound, a bizarre shape for a lying down human.

“Nico?” Reyna whispered, confused by someone else being awake, before prodding the blanket.

The mound responded by rolling away by the fifth prod, straight into an entwined couple: Jason and Piper. Upon briefly joining the couple who refused to have their sleep disturbed in bed, it immediately rolled back. Overestimating the distance it had travelled to escape the source of prods, it rolled straight back and onto a sore Reyna Arellano. Just as quickly, it rolled off her and landed flat on what would be its back if the mound was confirmed to be human. Reyna pulled back the blanket to see Nico decked out in black, carrying a small, black, plastic console with earphones in. She tugged at the wire to get one ear phone out and leaned in to increase the effectiveness of her whisper-based communication.

“Nico, why are you awake?”

“Why the hell are you awake?” he responded while reaching for the blanket in an attempt to retreat back to the shadows.

“I always get up at this time, and I asked first. What are you up to?”

Nico paused for a moment, wondering if he could dodge the question by prentending to be asleep, but he could feel Reyna's curious stare still on the blanket. He pulled it down and narrowed his eyes at Reyna, sending “fuck off” signals for a full five seconds. When she seemed just as interested in hearing an answer after all that, he turned on his side and looked down for a moment.

Considering several possible answers, almost all of which were either evasive or complete lies, he settled on, “I don't need a lot of sleep.”

“Bullshit.”

As much as his answer was bullshit, Nico hadn't wanted Reyna to point anything out. It was just that she found it pretty hard to ignore the dark circles under his eyes. Sure, the prominence of dark circles was often hereditary, but she knew he couldn't have gotten more than four hours of sleep tonight and the shadows were just as present. She didn't enquire further to Nico's relief.

Reyna pushed against the floor, feeling comfortable enough with her state of awakeness to sit up, while Nico got back to keeping his eyes glued to the tiny screen. She began reading up on some of the classics material the substitute failed to cover. However, the concept of the Roman funeral was put on hold when Reyna glanced at the time at the top of her phone's screen and realised how hungry she was.

Shuffling out of the pack of unconscious teens, she began a search for breakfast. The best she could muster from the floor was some leftover chips and no brand soda. Having a quick look around the Grace kitchen, there seemed to be no appropriate breakfast food in the house. She poured herself a glass of water before tiptoeing over the sprawled and huddled bodies, taking sips with caution in the hope that no fights involving liquids would occur later in the day.

By the time Reyna reached her bag, half the water was gone through a combination of intended drinking and various small incidents on her way over. She grabbed her wallet and headed for the door, determined to find herself some breakfast. She paused before she got her shoes on and decided she was in a friendly mood.

In Reyna's Roman reading time, Nico opted to continue exploring the terrible world facing his favourite hero, Il. Being 90% human, 9.5% fish, 0.5% something else that gave him various superpowers and no part eel despite his name, it couldn't get much better than him when it came to saving the world. Il was almost a third away through the Pacific Ocean when Nico's gaming was again disturbed. Giving up on passing the level that morning, he switched it off and extracted the ear phones.

As soon as his attention was somewhat focused on her, Reyna decided, “We're having breakfast.”

The direct tone suggested that he had no input on the matter. And so he did not. He somehow got dragged up and to the door while avoiding trampling anyone.

“Reyna, do I have to?”

Nico didn't have an issue with breakfast; not breakfast in particular at any rate. He just couldn't help but notice his skinny legs and lack of pants at that moment. He was still in his boxers and skulled shirt from pretending to be asleep, not to mention his lack of conventional payment options on him I his current state. Reyna had it easier, always opting to just sleep in old clothes.

He gestured down at his ensemble and she rolled her eyes. He quickly raised his eyebrows and went back for his jeans. Hopping lightly in place to get each leg on proved the most effective method of getting clothing on legs in a small space between sleeping people. Once he'd done up the fly and buttons, he began the fruitless search of his pockets for anything that might aid in the purchase of food. Ambivalent on the matter, he half jogged to Reyna at the door. Slipping on his shoes, they made their way out.

After less than three minutes running down the street with little argument from Nico which surprised Reyna. Knowing of course anything he ate would be at her discretion, he thought it was best to just follow her. They settled on some cheap fast food place which claimed they served breakfast until 10:30. Before nine on a Sunday, it was pretty empty, so Nico experienced the pleasure of not being stared at due to his choice of haircut and shirt. They made their way to the counter. Reyna asked for some bagel thing with eggs. She looked to Nico and jerked her head towards the menu.

“I'm fine,” Nico smiled, sort of, and gestured to a table.

“Come on, get something. You've gotta be hungry. We barely had anything last night.”

“I wouldn't call that barely anything.”

He wasn't sure what Reyna had eaten last night, but he remembered a substantial amount of chocolate in the mix.

“They didn't even bring that much food back and I know Percy had at least a quarter it. Have something.”

“Well, I didn't actually bring any money with me. I mean--”

“So was this or was this not a ploy to get free breakfast?”

“Maybe,” Nico said batting his eyelids innocently.

Reyna sighed and shook her head, adding some pancakes to their order. Nico ushered her over a booth nearby with a lovely view of a sealed road and more worn for wear rival fast food chain. They sat facing each other, waiting for the “around seven minutes” to pass. Both were hestiant to initiate conversation. After all, they had spent over an hour together the night before in almost silence and that worked pretty well.

The electropop number playing throughout the restaurant got to Nico a few seconds in. He lost control of his body, overcome by the “sick beat”. He couldn't help began slowly swaying in time.

“You like this song?” Reyna asked with disbelief and mockery lining her voice.

Nico was suddenly aware of his movements and came to an abrupt stop. Looking into his lap, he readjusted his sitting position to something more characteristic of a moody teenager. He ended up slouched in the seat with his chin resting on his hands.

“I don't even know it.”

His knowledge of the hits of today was universally described as limited. Reyna just accepted his answer and they continued in a silence more awkward that previously. The conversation gate had been opened and they sat blocking the way in, each regretting the decisions that lead them to this point.

“Sorry, do you even like pancakes?” was Reyna's last ditch effort to break the ice, “I never actually asked what you wanted. Well, I guess you didn't actually want anything, so--”

“Reyna, it's fine. Pancakes are fine,” and of course, everything was fine.

This time, the silence was shorter and less awkward as they both grew aware that seven minutes was getting closer to nine. The pair began discussing the movies of the previous night: the unsubtle foreshadowing, child actors at times with questionable talent, singing the score over whatever insufferable top ten hit was playing; all before their food was done.

After what must've been ten minutes of waiting, Reyna got up and came back with their tray and a few too many sachets of complimentary condiments for which Nico judged her immensely. He mumbled his thanks and lifted his greased y pancakes and cheap plastic utensils off. They dug right in, ignoring the evident lack of approval from food pyramids. Their paper food wrapping and half a stack of pancakes were all the booth had to remember them by when they made their way back to Jason's just after 9:30.

Predictably, most of them were asleep. Only Annabeth and Frank had managed to get up. Annabeth played a pretty risky power move and was sitting on the couch, while Frank was throwing bits of popcorn from the ground onto an unsuspecting target. It was Frank who greeted them first and offered some cheerios that had materialized in the last hour before also offering the popcorn which seemed comfortably nestled and camouflaged in Jason's hair. Nico and Reyna politely declined and light-heartedly bragged about their own breakfast before Reyna joined Frank. Nico thought they must've been discussing something rather important from the looks on their faces. It seemed about right: Frank was a teddy bear. If anything went wrong, everyone went back to him.

Annabeth looked over at them before returning to her book, an action not missed by Nico. He thought they must be talking about her. Although his grasp on Percy and Annabeth's recent perils was not the most firm, he could see how much it had effected them. If he could tell, Reyna and Frank undoubtedly could.

During the discussion, Nico swore Reyna glanced passed Frank to smile at him. That was of course because she _did_ look past Frank to smile at him. Nico was alright.

Jason however was not so alright. Some time before he really wanted to be up, Jason adjusted his head. It caused a shift in the popcorn which was enough for him to notice his buttered hair. Immediately, he sat up and scanned his surroundings until his eyes landed on Frank. He leapt out from under the blanket to yell accusations taking into consideration none of the sleep-needing. After that, almost none of them were alright. But Nico was.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm just here trying to get myself to start writing again, so I apologise if you did not enjoy this at all and wasted your five minutes (and you can thank the universe that this was a really short chapter). I also have this habit of not proof-reading anything, so apologise for that as well. If you did enjoy this, please let me know somehow. It might actually get me to stick with writing, so that'll be good for me, but real harm done if you didn't like it. Thanks for reading, regardless of you opinion of my writing/lack of development of plot thus far.


End file.
